Saving one of Australia’s most endangered habitats, the White Box woodlands of south east Australia, is the goal of three Charles Sturt University scientists who recently received a $100 000 grant to help restore these habitats.

Only a tiny area of grassy White Box woodlands remain undisturbed after millions of hectares of woodlands were cleared by Europeans for prime grazing and cropping land. Native woodlands dominated by White Box gums once stretched from northern Victoria to southern Queensland.

Funded by the NSW Environmental Trust, ecologists Drs Suzanne Prober, Ian Lunt and Kevin Thiele aim to help revive this important ecosystem by developing techniques for restoring the native plants that grew under White Box.

White box (Eucalyptus albens) woodlands originally had perennial native grasses and native wildflowers growing beneath the trees. Since European settlement, most of the original native plants have been replaced by pasture plants or weeds.

According to Dr Lunt, many community groups that aim to rehabilitate remnant vegetation encounter ecological barriers, such as weeds or changed soil conditions that prevent native ground cover plants from growing back under the trees. Many of these projects have been funded with the help of the Federal Government’s Natural Heritage Trust.

The three-year project aims to help community groups identify barriers to re-growing native grasses under trees and to develop ways of overcoming them.

Currently, once a site is invaded by weeds or losses its original understorey plants, the only way to return it to its original condition is to use highly intensive, small-scale and costly restoration activities.

“Fencing a weedy site from grazing animals can increase tree regrowth, but this rarely regenerates other original native plants,” Dr Prober said.

“The research aims to understand the changes that occur in degraded remnant bushland, particularly in the soil, to develop simple techniques that can shift the balance back from weedy plants to native species.”

Existing community groups will collaborate with the researchers to ensure their findings are readily available to the general community, with information made available through the Grassy Box Woodlands Conservation Management Network.

Formerly with the CSIRO, Drs Prober and Thiele have joined Dr Lunt from CSU’s Johnstone Centre for the project.